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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23446375">slowly falling where the fallen heart goes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeboos/pseuds/hopeboos'>hopeboos</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SEVENTEEN (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Getting Together, Inspired by Fallin' Flower, M/M, Magic, Nature, Summer Camp, jun talks to animals, magical boys come to terms with their silly crushes basically, seok has plant magic and sometimes it comes out like reverse hanahaki, you will see what I mean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:47:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,288</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23446375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeboos/pseuds/hopeboos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s quickly realising that he hadn’t thought hard enough about this whole situation—of course Minghao will want to spend time alone with his long-distance boyfriend. He’d asked Junhui to come because they’re friends, best friends, but Minghao can’t be his carer while they’re here, waiting around for Junhui to cling to him because he’s too scared to talk to the other kids. Not that they’re kids. He’s a grown man.</p><p>It doesn’t matter. Being the quiet one in the corner will be nothing new for him, and he’s heard there’s a few camp cats around here somewhere. He’ll make friends with them instead.</p><p>or</p><p>Junhui meets a boy at camp with a bright smile and a kind heart, and can't quite tear himself away.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Lee Seokmin | DK/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Wen Jun Hui | Jun &amp; Xu Ming Hao | The8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fandom Trumps Hate 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>slowly falling where the fallen heart goes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccotton/gifts">ccotton</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this fic was written as a part of fandom trumps hate! cotton, i had so much fun working with you to come up with the concept for this fic. it was a new experience to write for a ship that i probably wouldn't have considered on my own merit, and you were great at bouncing ideas with me though what we started with was vague. thank you again for your charity donation, that you delivered promptly even when we had issues donating. i really hope you like the end product!!</p><p>though this fic is really pretty soft, i should give warning for a minor injury in the scene where they're crossing the stream. jun also harbours a little anxiety and self-doubt but i don't think it's anything heavy. i hope u enjoy!!</p><p>title is from fallin flower :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s when they’re closing in on Reinheimen that Minghao starts to fidget in his seat. Junhui has a feeling it’s got nothing to do with the hours they’ve spent in this plane already, and more to do with what they’re getting closer to as the plane descends.</p><p>“Don’t say anything embarrassing, okay?” Minghao says, peering out of the small window to watch the runway approach below them. “I’m serious.”</p><p>“When would I ever?” he says, fingers twitching in his lap. He’s simultaneously itching to get out of this seat and too apprehensive to leave, knowing he has to shake hands with someone this important to Minghao; he’s never been very good at meeting new people.</p><p>“You can tell him whatever you want about yourself. It’s not like he hasn’t heard stories about you anyway. But if you pull out any of those pictures from taekwondo, I swear to God—”</p><p>“I won’t!” he says, but he’s laughing, thinking of those photos. They’d been so much younger, and Minghao had been much more willing to put up with his antics back then.</p><p>Minghao knows he won’t say anything incriminating, anyway. Will probably struggle to say a word to Seungcheol, who he’s never properly met, but knows vicariously through Minghao’s online dates and the long phone calls overheard in their dorm room. Still, the need to stand and breathe fresh air overrides his nerves, and he’s relieved to be out of the plane, looking around at the metal and glass of the airport and the flat concrete runway. The skies are open and blue, and it’s nice to feel like the sun can see him again.</p><p>Enjoying the outside only lasts a minute or two before they make their way through the endless white corridors of the airport, go through security with only a minor language barrier issue, and wait a surprisingly short time at the bag collection for their suitcases. Then they’re there, going down the escalator to arrivals, looking out for the sign they were told would say Camp Seventeen.</p><p>Seungcheol spots them first, voice calling for Minghao above the noise of the crowd, and Minghao perks up, face breaking out into a beaming smile. They step off the bottom of the escalator with Seungcheol is weaving through people to reach them, and then Minghao is leaving Junhui behind, pulling his suitcase only to drop it carelessly when he reaches Seungcheol. Seungcheol throws his arms around him, picking him up and spinning him around, and Minghao honest-to-god giggles, high and sweet. When he’s put down again, it’s only to lean in to kiss Seungcheol, enthusiastically, Seungcheol’s head clasped in both hands and Seungcheol’s hands on his small waist.</p><p>Junhui blinks, stares for a second, then turns his gaze away awkwardly. He’s never seen Minghao this openly enthusiastic about something in… well. Ever?</p><p>He silently picks up Minghao’s suitcase with his free hand and makes his way over to the man stood further back, holding the Camp sign. He’s short, and looks mildly unimpressed but mostly amused, watching Seungcheol and Minghao continue to hold each other close in the middle of the busy airport.</p><p>“Hello,” he says in Korean, and it only wobbles a little, awkward on his tongue.</p><p>“Hi,” the guy says, bowing politely. “Junhui, I’m guessing?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he says, chancing a look back at the happy couple. Minghao has been released, only for Seungcheol to be planting kisses on his nose and cheeks. “That’s me.”</p><p>“I’ve been told to send my apologies from the camp counsellors. They wanted to come and meet you here, but Chan accidentally set a cabin on fire, so they had their hands full trying to undo the damage.”</p><p>He balks. “S-set a cabin on fire?”</p><p>“Yeah. I think it’s the one you’ll be staying in, actually, but no worries. Wonwoo has regenerative magic, so he should be able to make it look new again.”</p><p>“Ah,” he says, wondering if he’ll be expected to share a room with this Chan too. He fervently hopes not.</p><p>“I’m Jihoon. I’m one of the other campers, but my brother is working as a counsellor, so he sent me to come and get you guys. I better be getting some of his pay for this. Oh hey! Did you get finished over there? Still got air in your lungs?”</p><p>Minghao arrives in his peripheral vision, smile a little embarrassed but very pleased, with a beaming Seungcheol next to him.</p><p>“Just fine, thanks. Haohao, this is Jihoon.”</p><p>Minghao comes back to earth a little, and gives a polite bow. “It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of good things,” he says, his Korean a lot more confident after all those endless conversations with Seungcheol. “Hyung, this is Junhui.”</p><p>“Oh, Junhui!” Seungcheol says, delighted, giving him a bow before reaching out to shake his hand too. “I’ve heard so much about you! I’m really glad you came. It’s so cool that you’re both here!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Junhui says, flustered. “Y-you too?”</p><p>“Let’s do pleasantries in the car,” Jihoon says, sheathing his sign under one arm and taking Minghao’s suitcase with the other. “You guys must be tired.”</p><p>He’s certainly feeling the time difference. They’d left sixteen hours ago, first thing in the morning, but here, it’s still midday on the same day. He’d slept somewhere in the middle of the flight, and now he’s not quite sure what meal he’s due to eat, but his stomach is demanding something.</p><p>“Yes,” Minghao says, gratefully. He’s got one hand grasped in Seungcheol’s, clutching as if he might die if they’re separated.</p><p>“Right, maybe you can sleep a little in the car. It’s a bit of a drive from here,” Seungcheol says softly, kissing Minghao’s forehead. Minghao smiles and curls into the contact.</p><p>“Come on,” Jihoon says, leading the way out of the airport. Junhui grips his own suitcase and quickly follows, anxious not to be left alone with the happy couple.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>They’re shown to their cabin upon arrival, and judging by the smell of smoke lingering there, he guesses this must’ve been the one that was set on fire. He’s proven correct when they walk into their bedroom, a small wooden room with two twin beds, and find a boy still re-growing the curtains.</p><p>“Chan really set you to work before camp has even begun, huh?” Seungcheol says, a laugh dancing in his words.</p><p>The boy, tall and sharp-eyed behind round glasses, gives Seungcheol a withering look. “This better not be a regular thing. I’m here to have a fun break, not run around after Lee Chan, fixing things he sets on fire by laughing too loud.”</p><p>Seungcheol laughs again. “Guys, this is Wonwoo,” he tells them. “Wonwoo, this is Junhui and Minghao.”</p><p>“Oh, Minghao!” Wonwoo says, a grin replacing the look on his face. “It’s nice to finally meet you!”</p><p>Junhui trails over to his bed as Minghao greets Wonwoo, putting his bags down and testing the mattress. Sufficiently bouncy, for a cabin bed.</p><p>“Anyway, we should give you time to settle in,” Seungcheol says. “Dinner is in an hour, and my room is down the hall.” He gives Minghao another kiss on the lips, leaving him bright-eyed and smiling as he drags Wonwoo from the room.</p><p>The door shuts behind them, and Minghao lies back on his bed, letting out a happy sigh. “We made it.”</p><p>“Yeah.” He sits up on the edge of his bed and looks around the room. “We did.”</p><p>“Are you excited?”</p><p>He can tell from the tone of his voice that Minghao is, no question. He deserves to be. After months of wanting to meet his boyfriend, he’s finally able to have time with him here, in this beautiful camp. Their window is big, and through it he can clearly see the old trees of the surrounding forest, the slope of the mountain that curves down into the vast lake. It leads into a fjord further on, Seungcheol had said.</p><p>“I’m tired,” he answers. “I don’t think our body clock will be adjusted before camp starts.”</p><p>“Everyone will be in the same boat. I think all the other campers are Korean. Don’t worry about it.” Minghao sits up again, and starts to unpack his suitcase. “Besides. It’s not like that would be much different to your usual sleeping habits.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>He sticks close to Minghao throughout dinner and well into the evening. Some of the campers help the counsellors set up a campfire, and a group further on are playing ball games with an orb of light. One of them must have a good control of their light magic to create something that durable.</p><p>Seungcheol sits on the other side of Minghao, and the two kiss seemingly every minute or so, arms around each other like they’re merging into the same being. He can tell Minghao is faintly embarrassed at having Junhui right there beside them, and it’s not exactly the most fun he’s ever had either, but he’s glad he doesn’t try to send him away. It’s not like he knows anyone else, and he can’t think of anything worse than asking the noisy kids if he can join in with their ball game. He’s the worst at sports.</p><p>Thankfully, Jihoon is sat with them too, and some of Seungcheol’s other friends—namely Jeonghan, and the infamous Chan—stop by to be introduced and hold conversation, so he’s not in this on his own. Neither are they there for too long before one of the counsellors calls for everyone to gather around the fire.</p><p>“Hello, campers!” he calls, enthusiastic. “I’m so glad everyone has made it here in time for camp to start tomorrow! My name is Choi Minho, and on behalf of all the other counsellors, I want to let you know how excited we are for the next few weeks. We’re going to do our best to give you a fun time here; the activities we have lined up will be really enriching and educational, and you’ll have enough free time to enjoy yourselves here too. We’re just going to set down a few ground rules, if that’s okay with you guys.”</p><p>Minho goes on to talk about health and safety and looking out for each other, all sorts of things he’d been expecting. Don’t go out on your own at night; couples aren’t allowed to sleep in the same bedroom; no going to the lake without letting a camp counsellor know first. No pranks, magical or otherwise, and no discrimination will be tolerated.</p><p>“That goes for everyone. Though this is a magical enrichment camp, we do have a camper with us without any inherited magic, and I expect your treatment of him to be the same as everyone else.”</p><p>Seungcheol dips his head, scratching behind his ear in embarrassment though his name hadn’t been said. A nice gesture from Minho, even if it does bring unnecessary attention to the fact that there’s an anomaly amongst them.</p><p>Minho leaves them sat around the fire not long later, with warm words and a gentle warning of curfew. The boys around the fire start to chat in small groups, and the few who had been playing with the ball earlier stand up to continue, their energy apparently endless.</p><p>A handsome boy on the other side of the fire leans over to his friend to speak in what’s probably supposed to be a whisper, but it’s loud enough for them all to hear. “Wait, who is the one without magic, then?”</p><p>“It’s me,” Seungcheol says, quickly. “I don’t mind admitting it.”</p><p>“Really? What made you decide to come to a magical enrichment camp then?”</p><p>“Jihoon’s brother works here,” he says, gesturing to Jihoon at his side, who eyes up the other boys sternly. “He said the camp would still be fit for me to attend. I’m studying magical and non-magical relations, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some experience. Bond with people I wouldn’t usually meet, you know.”</p><p>“I’m sure you’ll be doing lots of that,” Jeonghan says from beside him, wiggling his eyebrows, and Seungcheol hits him. Jeonghan laughs it off, and the doe-eyed boy beside him smiles at them.</p><p>“Oh, so you came for that kind of bonding,” he teases, the campfire shining in his eyes.</p><p>“No!” Seungcheol exclaims, and Minghao’s cheeks grow pink. “I came for the camp too!”</p><p>“But did you guys decide to come together from different countries? You’re not Korean, right?” the handsome boy asks Minghao.</p><p>Junhui takes his leave to slink away, leaving the conversation at the campfire to go back to his room for an early night. The cabin is quiet, the gentle chatter from outside muffled by wooden walls.</p><p>He picks his pyjamas and a towel out of his bag, headed to the empty showers. Maybe being friendless at camp won’t be so bad if he can get to the showers early every night? The thought alone makes him feel hollow as he stands under the running water. He’s quickly realising that he hadn’t thought hard enough about this whole situation—of course Minghao will want to spend time alone with his long-distance boyfriend. He’d asked Junhui to come because they’re friends, best friends, but Minghao can’t be his carer while they’re here, waiting around for Junhui to cling to him because he’s too scared to talk to the other kids. Not that they’re kids. He’s a grown man.</p><p>It doesn’t matter. Being the quiet one in the corner will be nothing new for him, and he’s heard there’s a few camp cats around here somewhere. He’ll make friends with them, and sit in the forest and meet the species of bugs they don’t have back in China, and ask the birds if there are any good spots to rest in if he doesn’t want to be found. Maybe pass them on to Seungcheol and Minghao if he’s feeling generous. He’s happy for them both, he really is. Minghao been waiting for this for a long time.</p><p>Still, he feels lonely as he looks at the empty bed opposite and hears the playful shouts outside, already in his soft pyjamas by 9pm. They smell like home, but the bed feels foreign. He takes off his rings along with the pendant around his neck, dumping them in the bedside drawer before crawling into bed and attempting to sleep off his uncertainty.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>There’s a thump on his arm, and he jerks awake. The covers are pulled all the way up to his chin, and he cracks open his eyelids to try and grasp what’s going on.</p><p>“Junhui,” Minghao hisses. “Can you put your suppressor back on?”</p><p>“Junhui…” Seungcheol repeats, gazing at him, and Junhui is suddenly wide awake, scrambling up and yanking open his drawer.</p><p>“Sorry, I didn’t know he was going to be in here this early—”</p><p>“Pretty,” Seungcheol says, reaching out for him. Minghao has a grip on both of his wrists, keeping him planted to his bed opposite, but the distance is small enough that Junhui still has to duck to avoid gentle hands cupping his face. “Wow. Pretty.”</p><p>He drags the pendant necklace out from under the clutter in his drawer and quickly loops it around his neck. Once it’s clipped at the back, he can feel the weight of its magic rest on him, settling in his body.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Minghao says, as Seungcheol stops pulling away from him, becoming lax against him and blinking a few times. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve thought about it when he came in.”</p><p>Minghao knows how much he hates to wear the suppressor overnight, with the way the magic embedded in it starts to wear him out after long periods of time. If Seungcheol wants to make morning visits a regular thing, he’ll need heads up in future.</p><p>“What was that?” Seungcheol says slowly, frowning at Junhui and then at Minghao. “Was that magic?”</p><p>“Sorry, it was my fault,” Minghao murmurs, kissing Seungcheol’s pout. “How much do you know about visual magic?”</p><p>Junhui’s heart is racing. It always does when he has an unexpected encounter like that.</p><p>Seungcheol shuffles, uncomfortable. “Not much.”</p><p>“Well, it manifests in different ways. Junhui inherited a particularly strong brand of attraction magic, and he’s never quite had a handle on it. That necklace was made by my mother. It helps suppress it, so people don’t get like that all over him all the time.”</p><p>Seungcheol goes from pink to red. Junhui is sure he looks the same. “It’s okay. I’m used to it. I wear the suppressant all the time now, but I take it off at nights because the magic is kind of heavy. You’ll have to knock, or something, next time you come in before I’m awake.”</p><p>“Right,” Seungcheol says, nodding and not quite meeting his eye. “It’s powerful magic.”</p><p>“He could control it better if he practised,” Minghao says.</p><p>“Practise on who?” he says, laying back down again, words falling into the pattern of their familiar argument. “It’s unethical to use that magic on others.”</p><p>“You find someone who’s consenting, and make it a controlled environment,” Minghao grumbles. “Others do it.”</p><p>“No,” he says simply, body relaxing back into his mattress. He wonders what time it is; the sunlight peeking through the curtains feels young.</p><p>“But I thought you had animal magic?” Seungcheol says, wrapping his arms around Minghao and laying down with him, too. He’s heard that being on the receiving end of his magic is overwhelming for a lot of people, and disconcerting to come out of; his magic is classified as the closest thing to mind control, when used maliciously. “Haohao is always telling me about the stray cats you bring home.”</p><p>He burrows further into his covers. “I have mixed magic. The visual side is from my dad, the animal speak from my mom.”</p><p>“Mixed magic!” Seungcheol says. “No way! How did I not know that? Isn’t that pretty rare?”</p><p>“I don’t really shout about it,” he says. “I’d rather just have the animal magic.”</p><p>“They’re both a part of you,” Minghao says, on cue. “They’re yours, and you shouldn’t be ashamed.”</p><p>“I’m not ashamed,” he says. “Just wish it had manifested as illusions, like Dad’s.”</p><p>“It’s good, you know,” Seungcheol interjects. “That it’s you who has something like that. Anyone else could do a lot of damage with it, but you’re the type of person who would only ever do good.”</p><p>He hums, voice scratchy with the early hour. “Thanks.”</p><p>“How come you weren’t affected like me?” Seungcheol asks, looking up at Minghao.</p><p>Minghao’s hands play with the slight curls of his bedhead. “My defensive magic. I have a natural immunity.”</p><p>“Oh, of course,” Seungcheol murmurs, settling his head onto Minghao’s chest.</p><p>Minghao and Seungcheol kiss a little and talk in low voices, and at some point, he falls asleep again. When he wakes up, he’s exhausted from having slept with the suppressor on, and it’s hard to drag himself out of bed. He can hear the noise of others talking and playing outside now, so he figures he should try his best to get on with the day, not wanting to be the last to emerge from bed on the first day of camp.</p><p>He watches the counsellors set up a bunch of stands on the bend of the slope as he eats his breakfast, trying to figure out what activity it’s meant to be. When they bring out packs upon packs of paints, crayons, coloured pens, markers, and a stack of canvas boards, he realises that the stands are easels. Outdoor painting?</p><p>Okay. That’s not so bad. He’d been foreseeing two weeks full of swimming games (that he hates) and sports (that he’s bad at) and team games (very intimidating). Painting sounds fun.</p><p>Jihoon’s brother, Jinki, comes by during breakfast to tell them as much, and also states that a few nets are going to be set up in the clearing behind camp, for those who’d rather play sport than paint. He gives a silent prayer of thanks for the Norwegian way of doing things, which means he’s given actual options and real freedom, instead of being coerced into activities that sound stressful.</p><p>Minghao is also delighted at the prospect of painting, and is the first to sit by an easel, dragging Junhui with him as soon as they’re done eating.</p><p>“You guys can use whatever you want,” Jinki, handing a set of brushes off to Minghao. “Just make sure not to hoard the resources, okay?”</p><p>Minghao immediately sets to work on his vision, and Seungcheol joins them only minutes later to settle his hands on Minghao’s shoulders and watch him brush colours across the canvas. They’re probably being encouraged to draw the lake and mountain view in front of them, which is why the easels are set up here, but Minghao has never been one for straightforward creativity. The way he chooses colours that blend together and layer onto each other, shapes forming exactly as he wants them to, has always impressed and eluded Junhui.</p><p>He sits there for a minute or two, trying to think about what he wants to put onto a canvas forever. Something important, these canvases probably cost a lot to buy in bulk. He could do the view, but he’ll go home with photos that’ll be way better than anything he could try to paint.</p><p>He misses his cat. He’ll draw her.</p><p>He quickly abandons the paintbrushes in favour of his fingers. He’s always preferred getting hands on with things, and he hasn’t done a painting like this since he was a kid. It’s fun, to get his skin covered in colour, to drag the paint however he wants along the canvas until he has her face outlined in orange. Uses his nail to draw in the white flecks, sticks his thumb down for her black, glittering eyes. Gets so immersed that when someone speaks over his shoulder, he jumps out of his skin, nearly smudging her nose.</p><p>“That looks so cool!” the loud voice says, and he turns to see a boy peering over him at his painting. He recognises him as one of the boys who’d been playing with the ball yesterday. “If I tried to use my fingers, I’d have a mess on a canvas instead of a painting.”</p><p>“Oh,” he says, not quite sure what to say. “Thanks.”</p><p>“Is that your cat?” he asks, seeming genuinely interested.</p><p>“Yeah. She complained a lot when I told her I was going away for two weeks, so the least I can do is bring her back something.”</p><p>“I’m sure she’ll love it,” the boy says kindly. “You’re Junhui, right?”</p><p>He’s surprised he knows his name, and it must show on his face. “Y-yes?”</p><p>“Don’t worry! I haven’t heard any bad rumours or anything,” the boy says through a laugh. “It’s just a pretty small camp this year. I’m Seokmin.”</p><p>He offers a hand out to shake, and Junhui almost complies, but stops at the last second when they both look down at his paint-stained palms.</p><p>“Ah,” Seokmin says, changing the greeting to a pat on his arm instead. “My bad.”</p><p>“It’s okay,” he says, laughing at himself. “A-are you going to paint?”</p><p>“I want to, but I don’t know what to do. I’m no good at this sort of thing,” he says, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the empty canvas next to him longingly. “I’d probably just ruin it.”</p><p>“You don’t have to be an artist,” he says. “You can do it just to enjoy it.”</p><p>“Right,” Seokmin says. He looks at Junhui’s painting, then back to the free easel again, weighing it up in his mind. “Okay. I’ll do it. What do you think I should paint?”</p><p>“What sort of things do you like?” he asks. He can feel the paint drying on his fingers, but he’s still stumbling on some of the Korean words, and wants to focus wholly on their conversation whilst this boy is still interested in him.</p><p>“Oh! I know!” Seokmin reaches down to the grass, and Junhui blinks as he watches a pink flower grow up in seconds, reaching into Seokmin’s hand. He picks it from the earth, and props it gently against the canvas.</p><p>“Woah,” he says, quietly. “Plant magic?”</p><p>“Yeah! I’m a botanist in training, too. These babies are kind of my life.”</p><p>“What type of flower is it?”</p><p>“A dahlia. It’s common, and easy to grow, but one of my favourites.”</p><p>“It’s beautiful,” he says, watching Seokmin pick up a pot of green paint nervously.</p><p>“Did you just go straight in with your fingers?”</p><p>“Yeah!” he says, encouraging. “Go for it!”</p><p>Seokmin gives a nervous smile, dipping his index finger in. “Oh! It’s cold.”</p><p>Junhui giggles at him, eyes darting up to Seokmin’s face, but he’s laughing too, cautiously dabbing the paint on the canvas. He becomes more confident as he figures out how much he needs for each stroke, and sets up the green stem, building into pink petals.</p><p>The conversation tapers off as Seokmin starts to focus on his flower, and it gives Junhui some space to breathe, and to carefully shape Princess Mianhua’s ears. She’ll be unhappy if they’re not accurate.</p><p>When he leans back to take in his painting properly, he’s pleased with the result. He turns to Minghao to wheedle him for praises, only to find his seat empty, abstract art finished and left on the easel.</p><p>He panics for a second, and then squashes it down. Right, he’s trying not to be Minghao’s clingy kid at camp. Still, he surveys the area around them to try and spot him.</p><p>“I think your friend got pulled away by his boyfriend a bit ago,” Seokmin murmurs, engrossed in his picture, but clearly aware of Junhui twitching beside him. “Those two are really smitten, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he laughs, breathy. “They’ve been dating for a while, but this is their first time together in person, so.”</p><p>“Oh, really?” Seokmin says, looking up at him again. “That’s so cool. This is a great place to spend time together.”</p><p>“Yeah,” he agrees, looking out at the lake in the distance. “It’s beautiful.”</p><p>“Hyung!” A boy is jogging over behind them, and Seokmin half-turns in his seat to see him approach. “You went to paint?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Seokmin says. He now has a tiny paintbrush in hand, adding delicate white details to the petals. He’d drawn the flower pretty quickly, but it looks nice. Not quite as pretty as the real thing, but still good. “Do you like it?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s pretty,” the boy says, hooking a chin over his shoulder. “But I think yours is cooler.”</p><p>It takes Junhui a second to realise that the boy is talking to him. “Oh, thanks?” he says, fixing his eyes on Princess Mianhua’s glare instead of the boy’s face. “I think his is really cool too, though.”</p><p>“Thank you!” Seokmin beams.</p><p>“If you’re done, we need another player for netball,” the boy says, patting his shoulders.</p><p>“Sure, I’m done,” Seokmin says, standing up and abandoning his paintbrush. He falters as he pushes back his stool, and Junhui’s aware that they’ve both realised he’s about to leave Junhui alone here. “Do you want to join us? The more the merrier!”</p><p>“Oh, no,” he says, quickly. He’s bad at netball, and the other boy had said they only needed one more player, anyway. He knows Seokmin is just being nice. “That’s okay. I think I’ll just start on a picture of my dog.”</p><p>“Okay,” Seokmin says, being tugged away even as he speaks. “You can join us if you get bored, though!”</p><p>Junhui waves at him as he’s pulled across the camp, around the back of the cabins to the sports nets. It leaves him sitting amongst a bunch of empty stools and some half-painted canvases, and he looks back into Princess Mianhua’s disapproving frown.</p><p>“I know,” he says, as if she were really here to scold him. “But you know me. I don’t need real people when I can talk to my cat.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>He gets exiled from his cabin room the next evening. Well, there had been no official exile from Minghao, but he’d gone to get his towel and wash stuff from the bedroom, only to be stopped further down the hallway. Up ahead, he can see Minghao is ushering one of the camp cats out of the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind her.</p><p>The cat bristles as she looks back at the door, unimpressed.</p><p>He bends down to stroke behind her ears. “Did they kick you out?”</p><p>She looks up at him, acknowledging his animal speak with a swish of her tail. “I wouldn’t go in there right now if I were you. They’re grooming each other.”</p><p>She says it with an air of disgust that suggests she doesn’t approve of their efforts. Junhui makes a face, and hopes very hard that <em>grooming</em> only means a heavy making out, at worst.</p><p>“Do you want to sit outside with me? I have nothing to do until they get their hands off each other.”</p><p>She holds her head high. “I suppose so.”</p><p>He smiles. “Nice to meet you. I’m Junhui.”</p><p>“Nora,” she says, brushing between his ankles on her way to the cabin door. “It’s been a while since they had one of your kind here.”</p><p>“Really?” He follows her out to the steps at the cabin door. It’s quiet out, most of the campers exhausted from the games at the lake that evening. He’d mostly sat at the side and napped in the sun. “I thought people like me would come here to speak to the native species. Norway is very different to home.”</p><p>“Is that why you came? My ancestors were native to these forests, but we’ve been living with humans for a long time, now.” She settles onto a step, and he sits beside her, watching the last of the sun disappear beyond the water.</p><p>He strokes a hand through her soft fur. It’s so thick, he can believe she’d be fit to survive the cold forests here. “I’d like to meet some of species here, but I suppose it’s not why I came. My friend asked, and I had to say yes.”</p><p>“The human who pushed me out?”</p><p>“That’s him.”</p><p>Someone rounds the side of the cabin, and Junhui instantly moves to the very edge of the steps to let him pass, before the legs come to a stop in front of him. “Oh, hi Hyung!”</p><p>He looks up to see Seokmin, hair damp from the shower and a towel thrown over his worn t-shirt. “Seokmin!” he says, and Nora hops up to sit on his lap.</p><p>Seokmin takes the space she leaves, perching next to him on the steps. “What are you doing out here?”</p><p>“Ah,” he says, stroking down the back of Nora’s head gently. “Minghao and Seungcheol are busy in the bedroom. I was chatting with Nora here.”</p><p>“Really?” Seokmin says, reaching out to tickle under her chin. “That sounds nice. Sucks about your room, though.”</p><p>Nora purrs. “I like him more than the other boy.”</p><p>“Yeah, but it’s not so bad. It’s nice to sit out here.”</p><p>“That’s true,” Seokmin says, reaching around to stroke down her back instead. Their fingers bump together gently, and then he withdraws his hand. “But it would be nicer to be able to go in your room when you want to.”</p><p>He laughs. “I don’t mind. Minghao came to be with Seungcheol, after all.”</p><p>“Maybe you could find out who his boyfriend is rooming with and start an alliance with them.”</p><p>“Oh, this one’s smart,” Nora says.</p><p>“She thinks you’re clever,” he translates. “Maybe I will.”</p><p>Seokmin blinks at him. “Wait, you can understand her?”</p><p>He nods. “That’s my magic.”</p><p>“Oh!” he says, looking down at Nora again. “So when you said your cat was mad at you…”</p><p>“Yeah, she really was,” he says, nuzzling his face into Nora’s soft fur. She’s a lot more relaxed than Princess Mianhua, who can’t stay in one place for more than a few minutes.</p><p>“I didn’t realise you meant that, I’m an idiot,” Seokmin says, rosy-cheeked. “That’s so cool! It’s such a pure type of magic, imagine all the animals you could befriend! Well, I suppose you don’t have to imagine. What’s the coolest animal you’ve talked to?”</p><p>“Umm. Maybe a tiger?”</p><p>“Woah! I have to tell Soonyoung! You spoke to a tiger?”</p><p>“It was only at the zoo, but yeah.”</p><p>“Awesome!”</p><p>Nora jumps down from his lap. “Tigers are just overgrown cats. You can tell him that anytime you like.”</p><p>“Ah, he didn’t mean it that way,” he tells her, but she’s already stalking away towards the main building.</p><p>“See you around, Junhui.”</p><p>“Ah,” Seokmin says, receiving the body language well. “Did I offend her?”</p><p>“Only a little,” he admits, and Seokmin looks appropriately chastised.</p><p>“All cats are equally cool!” he calls after her as her tail swishes out of sight.</p><p>“Are there more cats around camp?” he asks. Nora is the first he’s seen so far.</p><p>“A few. I think they’re her kittens, actually.” Seokmin looks back at him. “You know, I totally get why you’d talk to the cats, because you can do that, and it’s really cool. But if you need to sit with someone when your friends are busy with each other, I’m in the room at the end of the corridor, on the left.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” Junhui meets his eyes, and Seokmin looks right back in earnestness.</p><p>“Of course. If you want, I mean. I wouldn’t mind.” He pats Junhui’s thigh, then retracts his hand, looking out at the view in silence for a few seconds.</p><p>Junhui sits there, not sure if he should thank him, or offer something in return, or say something else. Seokmin seems to be friends with half the camp, and he’s not sure what he has to offer back.</p><p>“Yeah,” Seokmin says after a few seconds, standing up. “Anyway. I’ll see you around, Hyung. Goodnight!”</p><p>Junhui waves to him as he enters the cabin, and then he’s left alone again, but it doesn’t feel lonely. There’s a happy little something in his chest, buzzing around like a dragonfly’s dance. Maybe, he thinks—maybe this means he has a friend.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The counsellors are generally pretty relaxed about what he does and when he does it, which is a big relief. There’s always different activities set up for the campers to take their pick from, and once a day there’s a compulsory activity for the whole group. Today’s is archery, with a course set up in the neighbouring clearing, targets and bows and arrows set out along the space. They sit through the obligatory health and safety talk, and then the instructor starts to show them how to use the bow and arrow. He’s taken archery classes before, so he’s familiar with it, and breezes through the demonstration.</p><p>Seokmin, however, is struggling. The friends he’s stood with get the hang of it quickly, and each take their first shot at the target, hitting on the black and white outer rings whilst Seokmin is still struggling to figure out how to latch the arrow. He watches the scene nervously for a minute or two, but when Seokmin turns the bow the wrong way up trying to figure out the right hold, he pushes himself to intervene.</p><p>“Hey, Seokmin,” he says, approaching him as if he hadn’t just been watching him for several minutes. “Are you okay with that?”</p><p>“Ah,” Seokmin says, smiling at him bashfully. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”</p><p>“Hold it like this,” he says holding his own bow up. In front of them, Seokmin’s netball friend yells in surprise as he hits one of the inner rings of the target. “Come here, this way.”</p><p>They back up into the space in front of a free target, and Junhui holds up his own bow and arrow, trying to show him the right hold and grip.</p><p>“Should this go on here?” he says, nodding to where the arrow should latch onto the string.</p><p>“Yeah, just pull it a little more.”</p><p>He pulls, and it latches successfully this time, but unfortunately causes the front of the arrow to start swinging around out of his hand. Seokmin makes a distressed noise and tries to chase after it.</p><p>“Use your hand here—yeah, on the bow—and make the arrow stable with your finger. Not too much, just—yeah. And with your other hand…” he rearranges Seokmin’s fingers on the string so that he’s holding it correctly. “Okay. Feet apart, body to the side, use this eye to focus on your target…”</p><p>“Am I doing it?” he asks, holding the bow up.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s right. Now pull the string back as far as you can, and steady your bow, and let go.”</p><p>Seokmin pulls back, and squints at the target, and releases. His arrow flies off towards the target, only to skim the edge of it, landing somewhere in the grass behind.</p><p>Seokmin laughs at himself. “I don’t think I’m very good at this.”</p><p>“It’s okay, it’s your first time,” he says, patting his shoulder.</p><p>“Have you done this before?”</p><p>“Yeah, I used to take classes.”</p><p>“Then let’s see!” Seokmin says, stepping back immediately to give him space. “Show me how it’s done!”</p><p>Junhui rolls his shoulders and takes up position in front of the target. Holds his bow firmly, lines up his shot, draws back, and…</p><p>When he hits bullseye, Seokmin cheers in amazement and starts clapping. He’s a little flustered by it, but it’s nice to know he’s still good at this.</p><p>“That’s so cool!” Seokmin says, hand over his mouth. “On your first shot too!”</p><p>“Did you just hit bullseye?” Netball Boy says from the side.</p><p>“He did!” Seokmin says, beckoning his two friends over. “Can you show us again? Please, Hyung?”</p><p>He picks up another arrow and latches it, taking up the his stance and pulling back the string again. He hits very close to bullseye this time, in the inner ring next to the other arrow.</p><p>Seokmin’s friends gasp and clap appropriately, and he can feel his shoulders raising up under the attention.</p><p>“You look so cool!” Netball Boy says.</p><p>“You’re like the handsome lead from an action movie,” Seokmin says, imitating his stance. “Perfect kill!”</p><p>“You don’t have air magic or something, right?” Netball Boy says.</p><p>“Oh, guys! This is Junhui, the tiger boy I told you about.” He turns back to Junhui. “Hyung, this is Seungkwan and Soonyoung, my friends from back home.”</p><p>Soonyoung makes a loudly appreciative noise. “You’re really friends with tigers?”</p><p>“Oh, well…” he says, playing with the bow string. “I met one once. She told me I looked like one of her cubs.”</p><p>“Woah,” Soonyoung says, starry eyed. “Awesome.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>It had only been a small thing, but he can’t shake it off. Seokmin had called him handsome. It’s a normal thing to say, but he’s always been a little sensitive to comments about his looks.</p><p>He’s hadn’t liked that word in particular for a long time, now. It reminds him of his growth spurt, when his magic had been affecting people without him knowing, when he’d thought he’d only inherited the animal magic from his mom and had no idea there was something else manifesting in him. It reminds him of when people would come up to him just because the magic’s affects, only to ditch him as soon as he’d figured out the suppressant solution. Since then, he’s officially been too weird for the popular kids, and too intimidating to the weird kids. Through it all, the only friend he’d managed to keep was Minghao.</p><p>They’d been climbing trees together that evening, Junhui quietly enjoying the game alongside Seokmin and his friends. The stretch is good, the unsanctioned wildness of trees branches, and Seokmin had kept putting his hands to each tree trunk and telling them how old the tree was. He was so gentle with each branch, careful not to pull too hard or snap anything off. Junhui had reached down to help him up a big gap, and Seokmin had come up to the branch slightly too close to him, the two of them almost knocking heads as they held tight to the branch beside them.</p><p>But when they’d swung in that close, Seokmin had only beamed and giggled rather than swerving away, eyes curving into upturned lines, face glowing with the force of it. The way he looked at him then, and all those times before, with all his kindness and interest—Junhui couldn’t ignore the niggling voice in his head saying, <em>maybe that’s why he’s interested in you, after all.</em></p><p>“What’s keeping you up?” Minghao says into the dark, voice slow with the late hour.</p><p>“Hmm?” He hadn’t realised Minghao was still awake, never mind that he’d been giving his own wakefulness away.</p><p>“You’re usually out like a light as soon as you lie down,” he murmurs, shifting in his bed. “So what’s keeping you up tonight?”</p><p>Minghao might be able to help. He’d studied magical defence extensively, to understand his own type of magic, and part of that is understanding susceptibility. “Is it possible that some people might be more affected by certain types of magic than others?”</p><p>“Yes. It happens all the time. People with different types of magic have different natural affinities towards other types of magic, and sometimes that can be a weakness. What are you thinking of?”</p><p>“Is it possible that someone with plant magic could be more affected by visual magic?”</p><p>Minghao silently considers it. “It is, actually. People with natural magics are more susceptible to beauty, because they’re linked with the most basic, most important form of beauty itself.”</p><p>His gut drops, and he sits up in bed. “You’re serious?”</p><p>“Of course,” Minghao says calmly. “What’s this about?”</p><p>“There’s this kid, Seokmin.”</p><p>“The one you’re friends with?”</p><p>“He’s got plant magic. I’ve been feeling kind of weird, lately—I think I’m affecting him. I think—I don’t know why else—”</p><p>“Have you been wearing your suppressor?”</p><p>“Yes, of course.”</p><p>“Then you have no reason to think that he’s being affected. Has it failed you yet?”</p><p>“No, but he’s so smiley and touchy with me—I wouldn’t mind, but if it’s to do with my magic…”</p><p>“Even if he is more susceptible, it wouldn’t matter with you wearing the suppressor.”</p><p>“Still…” It can’t be a coincidence. He needs to be sure. “Could you reinforce it for me?”</p><p>He can hear Minghao sitting up on his own bed.</p><p>“Please? I don’t want to take any chances.”</p><p>Minghao is silent for a few moments. “Yes. Pass it here.”</p><p>Junhui knows he only agreed to settle his anxiety more than anything, but he’s still overwhelmingly grateful. He pulls his drawer open and grabs the pendant, holding it out until Minghao finds his hand in the dark, and takes it from him. He rests nervously on the edge of his mattress as he waits.</p><p>A few minutes of silence later, Minghao moves again. “Here.”</p><p>Junhui reaches out in the dark to receive the pendant, and it’s slightly warm to the touch.</p><p>“Thank you,” he says, placing it back in the drawer and shutting it carefully. “Really.”</p><p>“It’s okay.” Minghao says. “Now go to sleep. He’ll still be your friend in the morning.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The next few days pass without incident, and he settles into a state of cautious calm. Seokmin still partners with him during the first aid lesson, and sits with him for a few meals, and laughs at his dumb jokes, but he doesn’t call him handsome again. Maybe they’re okay, and Minghao’s boost did the job. Seokmin is a genuinely friendly, and very honest, and he seems to treat everyone with the same happily unbridled affection. He’s not sure what he did to be deserving of it, but he’s doing his best not to second guess it.</p><p>That is, until the horse-riding day.</p><p>It starts out fine. Minho gathers them together, and a few handlers bring around the horses, and his spirits immediately rise. They’re taught to be respectful, how to hold the reins, how to mount the horse, and then they’re given free reign to give it a shot and start riding.</p><p>He approaches his horse with a bow, and strokes his mane gently. “I’m so glad to meet you. I’m Junhui.”</p><p>“His name is Daniel,” one of the handlers says as they pass.</p><p>“My mother named me Arvid, but the humans insist on calling me Daniel,” the horse humphs, tossing his head.</p><p>He laughs. “Alright, Arvid. Is it okay if we go and ride?”</p><p>“Ready when you are, Junhui.”</p><p>He mounts, and looks around at the other campers getting ready to trot through the woods. He’s one of the last up on his horse, being the only one to stop and ask first.</p><p>The lead handler takes up front position, and the boys learn how to encourage the horse into a trot, how to pull back when they need to slow down. The horses are old hand at this, and know how to control their riders better than the riders can direct their horses, falling into line as they follow the leader down the forest path. They set off swiftly, Junhui’s head brushing against leaves as they pass through shrouded areas and lighter clearings.</p><p>Ahead of him, he can hear Seokmin and Seungkwan calling to each other down the line, delightedly laughing about Soonyoung’s horse, who’s being deliberately resistant to his directions and bucking his head every few steps. Behind him, Minghao is talking to his horse gently, a habit he’d picked up since Junhui had told him that animals can understand bits of human speech, no matter their magical ability.</p><p>They ride for an hour or so, passing through the sunny forest at a steady pace, and he takes the time to appreciate the natural beauty of the trees and plants around them. They pass strange bird calls and the gentle life of the forest, until they finally enter a wide clearing.</p><p>The view there takes his breath away. The clearing drops down the side of the mountain, looking over a wide, long fjord going as far as he can see. The mountains surrounding it are green and lush, and the blue skies above are clear, almost blending into part of the water at the horizon. The wind is stronger here, but not too cold under a bright summer sun.</p><p>“Alright, we’re going to let the horses rest here for a while, and then turn back,” the head handler calls to them. “Dismount your horses and take in the view, boys.”</p><p>Everyone dismounts with success, except Soonyoung, who’s horse is still playfully sidestepping and tossing his head. He makes it down with the help of a handler, and the laugher of some of his friends.</p><p>“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Hansol, one of the younger guys, says. “They’re so cool.”</p><p>From where he’d stopped a little further away, Junhui can see Seokmin beckoning him to join them, so he leaves his horse with a gentle pat to walk over to the group.</p><p>“Aren’t they pretty, too?” Chan says, stroking down his horse’s neck.</p><p>“Well,” Hansol laughs. “It’s kind of like riding Seokmin.”</p><p>“That’s rather inappropriate,” Chan’s horse says disapprovingly, and Junhui chokes on his laugh, finally reaching the group and slinging his arms around Seokmin’s shoulders from behind to hide his blush.</p><p>“What? Excuse me? What did you say?” Seokmin says, jutting his chin in Hansol’s direction as a mock threat.</p><p>“Chan’s horse friend thinks that’s inappropriate,” Junhui chimes in, and Chan bursts into laughter.</p><p>There’s a strange sensation on his hands then, like something very soft and light is touching them. He retracts his arms from around Seokmin’s neck to look at them, only to see a bunch of tiny pink petals resting there, light enough that he can only barely feel them falling.</p><p>“Oh, Hyung!” Seungkwan croons, coming up to stroke Seokmin’s cheek with a grin on his face. “I haven’t seen these in a while!”</p><p>Junhui rounds Seokmin to look at him properly, and begins to understand where the petals had come from. Seokmin’s cheeks are pink, full under his shy smile, and tiny pink petals are falling from his blush. “Stop looking at me, or they’ll start piling up!” he whines, pulling away from Seungkwan’s teasing hand.</p><p>“Does this normally happen?” he asks, looking at the petals falling steadily from his cheeks.</p><p>“I haven’t seen the pink ones in ages!” Seungkwan says, delighted. “Usually it’s blue ones from his eyes when he cries, or yellow from his hands when he’s happy, or green from his mouth after he’s had too many drinks—”</p><p>“Stop!” Seokmin says, turning his back to the group completely and burying his face in his horse’s mane. “Wait! I’m getting a handle on it!”</p><p>“It’s so cute,” Soonyoung says, grinning so hard his eyes disappear into happy lines.</p><p>“It’s okay, Hyung! We all understand!” Seungkwan says. Then, amazingly, he turns and winks at Junhui.</p><p>And, oh. That’s when he gets it. His heart sinks as he realises the implication—that Junhui had been the one to make Seokmin like that. The last of the pink petals fall through his fingers, and he looks down at them, leaving clumps of pink on the grassy earth.</p><p>Seokmin turns back and approaches the group with a straight face, wiping away the last of the petals. “I’m fine. It’s fine. Hyung, I was going to ask you, can you ask my horse for his name?”</p><p>“My name is Thea,” Seokmin’s horse says, deadpan.</p><p>“Her name is Thea,” he repeats.</p><p>“Ah,” he says. He looks at Junhui for a second before he starts laughing at himself, bursting into pink petals again.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>He goes over to the craft table alone the next day. It’s nearly always empty now, the other campers bored with the same materials set out every day a week into camp, but he’s happy to come back and try to make something new with what’s left to him.</p><p>Minghao and Seungcheol find him there when he’s a while into his work, taking seats on the opposite side of the table. Seungcheol greets him easily, picks up a block of clay, and starts tearing into it, but Minghao makes no attempt to hide the reason they’ve come over, and speaks to Junhui directly.</p><p>“What are you doing here?”</p><p>“Creating,” he says, focused on threading the last few delicate beads onto the string.</p><p>“What for?”</p><p>“I’m making a bracelet for Seokmin,” he says, taking the two ends of the bracelet and a tiny latch, carefully attaching them together.</p><p>Minghao stares at him. “You’re not ten years old.”</p><p>“Is that why you’ve not been with him?” Seungcheol asks. “We haven’t seen you around much today.”</p><p>“I need to, to clear my conscience,” he says to Minghao. “I need you to help me.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“He’s acting weird around me.” The latch goes on successfully, and he leans away admire his work, back cracking as he does. “So I need to be sure.”</p><p>“Junhui,” Minghao says, exasperated. “I told you, the suppressor is fine. He’s not affected by your magic. I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but I think he just likes you. The way normal people like each other.”</p><p>Junhui looks up at him, blinking once. “Or not.”</p><p>“I really think you don’t have anything to worry about,” Seungcheol says kindly. “Seokmin is one of the nicest guys here, and Minghao’s right. He can like you without it being linked to your magic.”</p><p>“But what if it’s not,” he says, holding the finished bracelet out to Minghao. “Can you just—please? Something small, maybe a warding spell against bad magic? To make sure he’s protected.”</p><p>“You don’t have any bad magic,” Minghao tells him through gritted teeth.</p><p>“You know what I mean,” he whines, pressing it into Minghao’s hands. “Please. If you’ll help me, maybe I can start to believe you. But the doubt will kill me otherwise.”</p><p>Minghao knows as much. He pulls the bracelet away from him, resigned. “Let me work on it. I’ll get back to you in the morning.”</p><p>“Thank you,” he says, finally relaxing back into his chair. “Thank you, really. I hope he’ll wear it.”</p><p>“It’s from you, so I’m sure he will,” Seungcheol says, aimlessly squeezing the clay in his palm.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Minghao hands him the bracelet back in the morning, telling him that the spell is light enough for Seokmin to keep it on without trouble. He thanks him, and pockets it, but doesn’t get to give it to Seokmin until later, because all the campers are running around packing bags and preparing supplies. They’re hiking further up the mountain today, to camp out there for a night. Practical application camping, Minho had said.</p><p>He doesn’t mind the hike. The trees are green and alive, and the birdcall is unbridled, this early in the morning. The sun comes out brighter and brighter as the morning warms up, light filtering through leaves and bouncing from dewy grass. At some point, Seokmin falls in step beside him, a little out of breath from the steady climb.</p><p>“You okay?” he huffs out, gripping the straps of his backpack in both hands.</p><p>“Yeah, good,” he says, fingering the bracelet in his pocket.</p><p>“That’s good. I didn’t see you much yesterday.”</p><p>“I was at the crafts table. I made you something, actually.”</p><p>He produces the bracelet, tries to see it as the pretty thing he’d worked on for much of the afternoon yesterday and not a cheap childish craft. It’s decorated with Nordic-style pendants and charms all the way around; they’re not too dissimilar to the earrings he sees Seokmin wearing sometimes.</p><p>“For me?” Seokmin says, surprised, holding a hand out for it.</p><p>Junhui places it in his palm, careful not to touch him. “Yeah.” He can’t help but blush a little. He doesn’t have a real excuse for giving Seokmin a gift, and hopes he won’t ask.</p><p>“Wow! Thank you!” he says, genuine. “It’s pretty! Can you help me get it on?”</p><p>They both stop in the middle of the path, the other campers continuing to walk around them as Junhui takes the bracelet back and unlatches it. So much for no touching—he wraps it around Seokmin’s wrist and clips the latch on, careful not to pinch his skin. “There.”</p><p>“Thank you!” Seokmin admires it happily, as if it were a precious thing, not made with camp materials. It does shine prettily in the sun.</p><p>“We should probably catch up,” he notes, looking around to see the rest of the troop has walked ahead, disappearing into the trees further up.</p><p>“Ah! Yes!”</p><p>They do their best, but the slope is oppressive, and only manage to keep the end of the walking line in sight until the whole group comes to a stop, giving them the chance to re-join them at a clearing.</p><p>“Glad you didn’t fall too far behind back there!” Jinki says. “We’re going to stop here for lunch, and then make camp. In the afternoon, half of you will get a lesson in fishing—those of you who arrived here last are tasked with finding us some firewood.”</p><p>He and Seokmin look at each other, and he can’t help but laugh at the look on Seokmin’s face. “Hyung, are you serious?”</p><p>“Deadly. Don’t worry, you’ll switch out with the fishing team tomorrow.”</p><p>They eat, and struggle to set up the two-man tents, loading in their sleeping bags once they’re successfully pinned down and stuck up in the right direction. Jinki tells them all they can pick their own tent-mates for tonight only, which seems like a recipe for disaster to him, but he can’t bring himself to resent the way Seungcheol is beaming about it.</p><p>When Seokmin throws his sleeping back and rucksack into Junhui’s tent, he looks up at him in surprise.</p><p>“Is it okay if we share?” Seokmin says.</p><p>“You want to?” he asks, glancing at the bracelet. Still there.</p><p>“Of course! It makes sense for both of us, right?”</p><p>Right, because their other friends have already paired up. “Yeah, sure.”</p><p>They’re sent on the hunt for firewood not long after that along with some of the other boys who’d been lagging behind on the walk. Everyone drifts off in different directions as they begin the hunt for dry, substantial pieces of wood on the forest floor, and he suspects the other boys might be separating off from them because the only pieces of dry wood seem to be on the trees themselves, and everyone on camp knows how Seokmin feels about breaking off pieces of living trees. He doesn’t mind it, though. The two of them make their way through the forest together, picking up pieces of wood every so often, careful not to lose their sense of direction back to the camp.</p><p>Seokmin isn’t picky about deadwood, but good wood is few and far between, and it’s a little while until either of them have collected more than a few good pieces. He carefully picks up logs that seem fine, stacking them up in his arms, and they work in comfortable quiet until Seokmin finds one with a rotten underside.</p><p>“It makes me sad to see things like this. I know everything has to come to an end, but when trees die, they’re either ignored and left fallen, or chopped up to be used. It would be nice if people tried to plant seeds or tend other trees when things like this happen, you know? Give back to the earth.”</p><p>He nods, watching Seokmin place the log down in a ditch, covered in leaves. “I understand. I hate seeing animals in pain, but I’m pretty much the only animal speaker for miles around in my community. Everyone knows me, and sometimes people call on me when they can’t understand what’s wrong with their pet, or they know they’re dying and they have something to tell them. But I’m not a vet. I can just speak with them a little better than most.”</p><p>Seokmin frowns, looking at him with big eyes. “That’s really sad. I’m sorry about that. Your magic is really rare, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, pretty rare.”</p><p>“Do you work with animals?”</p><p>“I’m planning to. I’m studying magical-animal relations, because I want to really change how people understand animals. They have a lot to say for themselves, but not many people are willing to listen.”</p><p>“Wow. That’s really cool! It’s how I feel, too. Plants are as alive as we are—we should treat them with more respect.”</p><p>Seokmin’s presence beside him in this forest is easy. It’s not often he can feel this comfortable with someone he’s only known a week, but maybe it’s the confined context of the camp, or all the ways Seokmin seems so similar to him. They have the same mind about a lot of things, and that makes it easy to trust him.</p><p>They walk in a careful circle, getting a wide girth of ground to find wood without straying too far from the camping ground.</p><p>“Shua! Did you find much?” Seokmin calls when they have their arms loaded with wood, the sun lower in the sky, the two about ready to head back to camp.</p><p>They get no reply, and Junhui looks around from his crouch to see who Seokmin is calling to.</p><p>“Hyung!” Seokmin shouts again, and Junhui narrows his eyes at the figure ahead. It seems larger than a human male.</p><p>“Seokmin,” Junhui says quickly. “Don’t shout.”</p><p>“It’s just my Hyung, he was in the other team…” Seokmin trails off as the figure ahead of them moves, becoming clearer in between the trees. It unfolds onto its hind legs, suddenly towering up much taller, and looks at them both intently. It’s certainly a lot more grizzly than the average camper.</p><p>“Stay still,” Junhui says, staying in his crouch and placing down his firewood.</p><p>Seokmin doesn’t make a noise, doesn’t move a muscle, clutching his wood hard from where he’s standing in front of Junhui. They’d been briefed back at the camp on what to do if they saw a mountain lynx, or grass snake, or brown bear out here in the wild. He knows the bear one had been to hold still, and hope for the best.</p><p>He thinks he can do one better than that.</p><p>“We mean no harm,” he says, hoping the bear will understand his accent. Nora hadn’t had issues. “We’re sorry for trespassing on your territory.”</p><p>The bear drops down onto all fours, and starts to move closer, a slow lumber between the trees. “Curious,” she says, with no real malice in her voice. “I’ve heard of your kind, but never met one.”</p><p>She passes by Seokmin without any interest in him, and Junhui can see him shaking from here. He can hear the grunting roar of the bear calls underneath some of her words, and hopes Seokmin will trust that the conversation isn’t as bad as it might seem.</p><p>“My magic is not so common, but I’ve been practising hard. I’m glad you can understand me.”</p><p>Though the animal brief had lasted several minutes, no one had prepared him for the smell of bears. As she approaches him, the rank smell is so overwhelming he tenses up out of pure recoil. The bear stops in front of him, and sniffs around his head, and he tries to relax his body in response. She’s very soft spoken, and he can tell instinctively that this isn’t aggressive behaviour—they should both be just fine.</p><p>“Oh, you look just like one of my cubs,” she coos, nosing at his ear.</p><p>“You’d be surprised how often I hear that,” he says, accepting the attention.</p><p>“Boys! Do you want to come and meet some human cubs?”</p><p>Her great roar across the forest causes Seokmin to choke a little, wood trembling in his grasp.</p><p>Junhui carefully puts his hands up into the mother bear’s fur, matted and thick, and slowly stands up beside her. When she seems unconcerned by this, he lets himself relax, and calls out to Seokmin in a low voice.</p><p>“It’s okay, Seok. She wants us to meet her kids.”</p><p>The firewood falls from Seokmin’s arms with a clatter, and they both look straight ahead, where three bear cubs are stumbling over the uneven ground in their race to reach Mother. “She what?” he hisses, daring to turn his head enough to look at Junhui, wide-eyed.</p><p>The first bear cub reaches Seokmin, and stands up on his hind legs to rest his paws against Seokmin’s knees. Seokmin lets out a strange noise of half-fear, bending down just enough to run a hand through the cub’s fur. “Oh my God. You’re kidding me.”</p><p>“I’m not,” he grins, holding his arms out to embrace the cub nearing him. The cub jumps right into them with a little too much energy, throwing himself onto Junhui and half-clambering onto his shoulders. Mother bear noses at them both, protective. In front of them, the third bear cub reaches Seokmin, climbing up onto the pile of firewood to vie for his attention.</p><p>“Oh! Yes, hello!” Seokmin says, voice still pitched with alarm, but looking less like he’s expecting imminent death.</p><p>“Your cubs are beautiful,” Junhui says, bending over to let the cub sit on his back. He’s growling playfully—probably the closest thing to laughter he can interpret.</p><p>“I know,” Mother says proudly. “Would you like to join us?”</p><p>“I have a mother and little brother cub of my own back home,” he admits, a little mournfully. “But thank you for your generous offer. We have a nest set up less than a mile west of here, with others, only for a night. Is that okay?”</p><p>“One night is not long. We will move east.” She noses at her cub until he slides from Junhui’s back. “Come on. The human cubs have a family to get back to, with their nest provisions.”</p><p>Seokmin is on the floor by now, laughing nervously as the bears clamber over him, pawing and playing.</p><p>“Have a safe hibernation, cub,” Mother says. Her other cubs follow after her as she walks back past Seokmin. The youngest of them calls out a goodbye, as the family start to move east.</p><p>“Goodbye!” Junhui replies.</p><p>“Goodbye!” Seokmin echoes, sufficiently dazed.</p><p>When the bears are figures in the distance, Junhui takes a proper look back at him, and laughs at the state of Seokmin’s tousled hair and grubby shirt. He starts to pat him down, before thinking better of it.</p><p>“I can’t believe you just did that,” Seokmin says, grasping at him tight to stay sat upright.</p><p>“I didn’t do anything. Animals are generally peaceful creatures if you only talk to them. She offered to adopt me, actually.”</p><p>“Of course she did. You’re really going to run away with—I don’t know—a family of elephants, one of these days.”</p><p>He laughs. “Princess Mianhua would not be happy about that.”</p><p>He helps Seokmin stand, and once they’re sure his feet won’t give way under him, they pick their firewood back up and head back to camp.</p><p>As they approach, Jeonghan notices the state of their clothes and frowns at them. He can feel his shirt is a little torn in the back from where the cub had been careless with his claws, but he doesn’t think he broke skin.</p><p>“What happened to you?” he says, surveying the two of them.</p><p>“We met a family of bears,” Seokmin says, deadpan.</p><p>“What?” Minho snaps his head up at them from where he’s grilling the first of the fish. The rest of the scouts must have come back long before them, because the fire is already blazing.</p><p>He dumps his wood on the pile. “It’s okay, they’re friendly. I checked it was okay for us to be in the territory for tonight, and they’re going to stay out of our way.”</p><p>He splutters, apparently flabbergasted. “You—you both—are you alright?”</p><p>“Perfectly fine,” Seokmin says, though he sounds amazed by it. “Though I could do with a change of clothes, and a good wash down.”</p><p>“Oh, so you’re the reason for that smell,” Seungcheol says, approaching the fire with a bucket, Minghao close behind him. “What did you do?”</p><p>“Junhui almost got adopted by bears,” Seokmin says.</p><p>“That’s normal for him,” Minghao says. “So is the general smell of trash, though.”</p><p>“You’re just jealous you missed out on the bears,” Junhui says, heading to his tent to grab spare clothes and washcloth.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Usual curfew is off for tonight. After they grill the fish (Junhui sticks to the vegetarian option—fruit and sweet-baked potato), they’re told that they’ll be having a special astronomy lesson tonight, and it’s recommended to try and take an early nap before they hike further up the slope in the dark.</p><p>“Is that why we’ve come to camp out here?” Chan asks. “To see the stars?”</p><p>“Wait!” Seungkwan exclaims. “Will we be able to see the northern lights from here?”</p><p>Jinki smiles at them. “I told you that it’ll be hard to see the northern lights from here. We’re not far north enough, and it’s still the middle of summer. But we have a very special guide coming down to lead your astronomy lesson, and he’s promised that it’s sometimes possible to see the northern lights from the peak of the mountain.”</p><p>Excited titters make their way through the camp, and Jinki stands to get their attention again. “Don’t get your hopes up about seeing the lights too much in case it doesn’t happen, but the lesson will certainly be interesting either way. A centaur from the local tribe has agreed to come down and be your teacher for the night.”</p><p>Conversation bursts out around the fire at that. Centaurs are known to be a reclusive type, preferring to live deep in uninhabited land, separate from humans. This might be the only time they’re able to meet one, ever, and Centaur knowledge of astrology is famously unparalleled. They’re an important category of semi-human that he learns about in his studies, too, and he can feel himself anticipating the night already.</p><p>“Try and get some sleep, and remember to wrap up in warm clothes. We set out at eleven.”</p><p>He and Seokmin had changed their clothes and done their best to wash themselves down in the nearby stream, but the water had been icy cold, and they’ve only got a small bottle of travel soap between them. As a result, when they’re being paired up to walk up the mountain, they’re left with each other again, most of the other campers standing a safe distance away from their general bear smell.</p><p>“I wonder how long it’s going to be like this,” Seokmin says.</p><p>“If it helps, I can’t even smell it anymore.”</p><p>“Me neither, but that’s because we’re both used to it. I don’t think everyone else feels the same.”</p><p>“Campers!” Minho calls, and the chattering quiets quickly. Everyone seems to be noticing the same thing—a figure approaching from the dark, large and deceptively quiet in the black night. “Please meet Rybak, your teacher for tonight.”</p><p>Rybak enters the light of the fire, and Junhui tries to stop himself from staring. He’s tall, far taller than an ordinary man, his torso beginning somewhere where his horse body ends, covered in brown hair all over. The campers give him a polite bow, and there’s a general call of <em>Welcome, teacher</em>.</p><p>“I’m honoured to be here with you, humans. I hope I can teach you a little of what I know tonight,” Rybak says, voice low and smooth. “I hope you’ll all open your minds and hearts to the words of the stars. As I understand it, humans don’t have good vision in the dark; my only request is that you don’t bring man-made light into centaur lands.”</p><p>“Right,” Minho says, and starts to repeat Rybak’s words in Korean. It makes him realise that he’d understood Rybak’s Norwegian, thanks to his partial-animal form, and Junhui’s own magic. “If you’ve brought any lights, please leave them behind. Seungkwan has agreed to provide for us, tonight.”</p><p>“Oh, yes,” Seungkwan says, and promptly begins to glow. His whole body brightens quickly, spreading under his skin, his light far surpassing that of the fire in the centre. From his hands, orbs start to form, blowing up like bubbles, then hovering in the space around their heads.</p><p>“Please don’t stray far from the lights, everyone. If we’re all ready, we’ll start to walk up the path now.”</p><p>He and Seokmin end up at the back of the line again, and he feels a little bad for Jinki taking up the rear of the walk, obviously trying not to wrinkle his nose at the smell of them.</p><p>“We might have to see if anyone on camp has some industrial-strength soap when we get back,” he says, and Seokmin laughs.</p><p>“I’ll ask Chan, he says he has issues with the smoke smell. I think he kind of likes it, though.”</p><p>“My mom is a shapeshifter—speciality cat and dog—so she’s got a really good sense of smell. She’s going to be asking who I’ve been hanging out with if I come back smelling like this.”</p><p>“You’ll be having a few showers before then, I hope!”</p><p>“Judging by the way everyone’s keeping their distance, it seems like the sort of smell that lingers.”</p><p>After walking for twenty minutes or so, their path comes to a shallow stream, less than a metre wide. Rybak crosses right over it without issue, hooves kicking up water, but he can see the campers at the front of the line stop, unsure. He wonders if this path had been vetted by humans beforehand.</p><p>“Take care when crossing over, everyone!” Minho, at the front of the line, shouts back. “The rocks are elevated enough that you should be fine, but be careful. Seungkwan, can we boost the light?”</p><p>The light from the orbs intensifies, so bright they whiten out the sight of the path and trees around them. The campers take the rocks carefully, beginning to clump together on the bank at Rybak’s side as they cross over the stream in pairs. Nearly everyone is across when it’s Seungkwan and Hansol’s turn, and their rhythm comes to a halt. Seungkwan, half-focused on using his magic to see the way, missteps on a wet rock, slipping feet first into the water. Junhui hears this more than sees it, because in an instant, the lighted orbs around them snap out of existence. They’re left in pitch black, listening to the sound of the stream.</p><p>A second later, light reappears from the middle of the stream, but it’s dim, so it takes him a minute to piece together what he’s seeing. It’s Seungkwan, his light magic regathered inside him—the gash on his leg bleeding pure light.</p><p>“Shit!”</p><p>“Everyone stay where you are!” Jinki calls. “Don’t move for now! Rybak, would you help Seungkwan and Hansol to the bank, and get Wonwoo to him?”</p><p>There’s the sound of Rybak’s hooves in water again, and Junhui wishes he had his mother’s manifestation of animal magic right about now. She can see amazingly well in the dark, whatever form she’s in—all they have here is a crescent moon and the bright stars overhead, but they don’t do much for them under the thick canopy of trees.</p><p>He jumps a little when Seokmin shouts from next to him. “Seungkwan? Are you okay?”</p><p>“Fine!” he calls back from the other side of the bank, sounding more annoyed than pained. “It’s just a cut!”</p><p>The shake to Seokmin’s voice is clear. When he feels a hand groping for a hold on his arm, he reaches back to pat Seokmin gently, accepting the touch.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Junhui whispers, not wanting to draw attention.</p><p>“Mmh-hmm,” Seokmin says, his hand travelling down Junhui’s coat sleeve to find his gloved hand.</p><p>Junhui easily relents, and holds his hand back. “Are you scared of the dark?”</p><p>“A bit,” he whispers, and he can’t really tell where Seokmin’s face is, but hot breath hits his cheek when he speaks. “It’s okay.”</p><p>“I’ll stay here,” he reassures him. “I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Seokmin says, and squeezes his hand.</p><p>It only takes another minute until the light starts back up, spreading quickly under Seungkwan’s skin from the other bank. He takes his gloves off to produce another round of lighted orbs, and his light bounces from the water.</p><p>“Don’t overdo it, Seungkwan!” Minho warns. “We can wait here if you need a minute.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” he says. “Wonwoo patched me up perfectly. I’m just a little cold.”</p><p>“I can dry off your clothes!” he hears Chan offer.</p><p>“Absolutely not,” Seungkwan says firmly. “You’re not setting my clothes on fire right now. Hansol can do it.”</p><p>“Oh, sure,” Hansol says, crouching down to run his hands over the bottom of Seungkwan’s jeans and over his shoes. The water unbinds itself and returns to the stream at Hansol’s direction.</p><p>“I haven’t set any clothes on fire in ages!” Chan complains.</p><p>“You set my hoodie on fire two days ago,” Soonyoung says.</p><p>“Oh, yeah.”</p><p>The rest of them get over the stream without trouble after that, and then it’s not much further until they reach the peak of the mountain. It’s been getting steadily colder as they’ve climbed, but it’s not as windy as he’d expected at the top—more of a perfect frosty chill, covering the grass in tiny fractals of ice that crunch underfoot.</p><p>He has to admit, the sight of the sky from here is stunning. The stars are far clearer in Norway than he’s ever seen before in China, and the peak only makes everything seem brighter and bigger, constellations winking at him from the black sheet of night.</p><p>“It would be best if you could all lie down,” Rybak says, and Minho echoes him in Korean. “First, I’d like you to see what you can in the stars. Take in their beauty, the natural wonder you should not take for granted. The stars can tell you a lot if you only listen.”</p><p>They get down onto their backs, winter hats and thick coats protecting them from the icy ground. One by one, Seungkwan’s orbs intentionally blink out, leaving them with an unobstructed view of the night sky.</p><p>He’s never thought about the stars all that much before, but with this sort of view, it’s hard not to. After his talk with Seokmin, too, he thinks Rybak is right. All of nature speaks to them, in different kinds of ways, and it all has a life so natural it’s impossible to deny. Humans have forgotten the need to listen, over the years—but he’s striving to be different, to be better than that. He tunes in to Seokmin’s gentle breathing beside him, and looks up at the stars, opening himself up to what they could be trying to tell him.</p><p>After a minute, Seokmin shuffles closer. “Do you know what I saw first?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“The Great Bear,” he says, pointing up to a vague area of the sky. “Well, I don’t know if it’s the proper constellation, but I can definitely see a bear in the stars there.”</p><p>“Really? I just see stars.”</p><p>“Yeah! Right there!”</p><p>The pointing doesn’t really help. All he can see are the clumps of light in no distinct pattern, vast and beautiful. He doesn’t mind, as Seokmin soon switches to talking about how he’d seen a bear in a pattern of tree bark earlier, so he’s probably just feeling the remnants of their previous encounter.</p><p>After a while, Rybak starts telling them about constellations they can look out for, stars that are particularly bright tonight, planets that should be in view if you look carefully. He finds it harder to pay attention as the night moves on—they must be in the early morning hours now, and his voice starts to filter in and out.</p><p>“Can you see it?” Seokmin asks.</p><p>“See what?”</p><p>“Mars… I think. Mars?” he looks around, as if looking at the pair next to them will reveal the answer. “I’m not sure. He said keen eyes will be able to catch the red planet. I don’t know if that’s Mars.”</p><p>“Probably. What does it mean if we can see Mars?”</p><p>“Something about… prosperity or…” Seokmin shrugs into the grass. “I can’t really hear him when he walks around that side of the group.”</p><p>He laughs. “It’s okay. It’s hard to focus when we’re lying here in the cold.”</p><p>“Right, I could totally go to sleep. Hopefully we don’t freeze to death.”</p><p>From somewhere to their right, Seungcheol shouts. “Hey, look! Isn’t it the lights?”</p><p>Junhui turns his head, but Seungcheol is still on his back, looking up at the sky. He turns back, looking up too—and sees what he means.</p><p>It’s faint, but there’s a definite green light streaking through the sky above, colouring the black night bright. Beside him, Seokmin gasps.</p><p>“You’re right!” Seungkwan shouts back across the clearing, delighted.</p><p>Rybak stays quiet for a moment, looking up with all of them. “This is a faint show, but yes. You’re blessed to see the beauty of the great lights tonight.”</p><p>A hush falls on the campers as they all stare. The green is more vibrant than he’d anticipated, smearing the sky above in its slow pulse of movement. It’s impossible to take his eyes off it; the sight is like nothing he’s ever seen before. All of them lay still, and watch, enraptured.</p><p>After a while, he finds himself compelled to look over at Seokmin. The green light shines in his bright eyes, starlight reflected back in the black and white and deep brown there. He must see Junhui turn, as he turns his head to look over. His smile almost has a light of its own.</p><p>“It’s beautiful,” he says to Seokmin, in a hushed voice.</p><p>“Yeah,” Seokmin agrees, looking back at him. “It is.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>They’re allowed to sleep until late the next morning, but Junhui still wakes up early to the sticky warmth of their two-man tent, heated by entrapped breath and the morning sun. He lies there for a little while, watching the slow movement of Seokmin’s breathing in his sleeping bag. It makes him feel calm.</p><p>The counsellors call everyone up out of their tents a few hours before midday. They’re switching out teams, half of them walking to the river further west to catch fish for lunch, the other half on firewood duty. Except…</p><p>“Hyung?” Junhui starts. “Is it alright if I don’t do the fishing?” He’s well aware that he’s the only vegetarian on camp, and it feels a little awkward asking, but he can’t stand the thought of going through with it.</p><p>“Ah,” Minho says, surveying him. “Yes, that’s fine, Junhui. The firewood team already left, though.”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Seokmin’s voice pipes up from next to him. “I’ll go with him.”</p><p>“You don’t have to,” he says, but Seokmin only smiles, glowing just as brightly as he had the previous night.</p><p>“It’s okay. Shall we walk out to the slopes? We didn’t see that yet.”</p><p>Minho pats Junhui’s shoulder before turning back to the fishing equipment. “Be careful, boys.”</p><p>They set off together, the two of them alone again, and it gives him a strange nervousness in his belly. It’s a feeling that’s been building up there since Seokmin had sat next to him at the canvases on the first day. Since the first time Seokmin had acted like a friend, Junhui has been feeling it, over and over again. And still, he can’t understand why Seokmin would keep coming back to him like that.</p><p>They walk slightly uphill to where the trees parse out into a stretch of grass, before the steep drop of the mountain slope gives way to the fjord below. The view beyond is expansive, all bright sun on clear water, the stillness and purity of the Norwegian earth. It settles him, somewhere deep inside; to be someone like Seokmin, so connected with nature, he imagines it must be like coming home. Instead of circling around the ledge to go back into the forest and look for firewood, Seokmin quietly sits down on the grass, looking out at the view. Junhui doesn’t question it, and takes a seat next to him, watching the birds fly overhead.</p><p>After a few minutes of sitting, he looks around them, shuffling in place. Shouldn’t they get to work before they’re too late to collect anything? He opens his mouth to ask as much, only to be stopped by the feeling of fingers nudging his hand, and he looks down. Seokmin does too, and takes Junhui’s fingers from the grass, turning his hand over to slot their fingers together.</p><p>“Hyung…” he starts, licking his lips nervously, and Junhui suddenly realises that they’re not just here to look at the view.</p><p>“Seokmin…” he starts, fingers twitching. He desperately doesn’t want him to say whatever he’s about to say next.</p><p>“I need to tell you something,” Seokmin blurts out. “I’m not a good liar, and though this isn’t particularly a lie, it’s still a truth I haven’t told. And I want you to know it.”</p><p>He looks at him, and waits, his stomach sinking. Seokmin’s bracelet peeks out from under his jacket sleeve. This can’t be real.</p><p>“I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but… I really like you, Hyung. I think you’re really funny, and your mind is so cool, and you’re a really good person. I understand if you don’t think of me as more than a friend, but I thought that I needed to tell you. I hope you understand.”</p><p>He blinks a few times, then looks down at the grass, avoiding Seokmin’s gaze and pulling his hand away. “There’s something I need to tell you too.”</p><p>Seokmin looks at him with wide eyes, voice soft. “Yes?”</p><p>“I’m…” He takes a deep breath in, and lets it out again, looking out at the faraway mountains rather than Seokmin’s face. “I have mixed magic. Animal speak is only half of it. My other half is visual magic, and it manifests as a strong sense of attraction. I’ve worked with Minghao to make sure no one has been affected by it, especially not you, but I think because your magic type makes you more susceptible… I think your feelings might have been influenced by it, still. I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It would probably be best for us to have some space from each other.”</p><p>He gathers up all his courage to look back at Seokmin. Seokmin stares, and then, unbelievably, starts to smile. His mouth stretches, eyes pulling into lines, and then, he laughs.</p><p>“I’m serious,” Junhui says, uncomprehending.</p><p>“You have mixed magic!” Seokmin says, delighted. “That’s amazing! I’ve never met anyone else mixed before!”</p><p>“You…wait…” Junhui stumbles over his words as Seokmin rearranges himself, turning to face Junhui fully.</p><p>“The plant magic comes from my dad. My mom gave me defensive magic!”</p><p>Junhui’s mouth drops open. “Like Minghao?”</p><p>“It manifested mostly as a magical immunity, so I can’t do as much with it as he can, but yeah, like Minghao!”</p><p>“So that means…”</p><p>“I’m not susceptible at all! I promise you, my feelings are all my own.”</p><p>Seokmin beams, and it’s like the golden gates are unlocked, like he’s seeing a sight he’s never seen before. He’s beautiful, like this—and he finally lets himself think that, because he’s allowed, because Seokmin is the only person he’s met other than Minghao who can feel whatever he likes about Junhui, and there’s nothing he can do about it.</p><p>And Seokmin has chosen to have <em>feelings</em>. That’s real magic.</p><p>“Does that mean you’ve been carrying a defensive spell this whole time?” Seokmin asks.</p><p>“Yeah,” he says, still breathless with the revelation. “Minghao’s mom crafted me this when my magic was first manifesting.” He pulls the pendant out from under his shirt, and Seokmin holds a hand out, requesting to touch. Junhui nods without question.</p><p>“Wow, it’s heavy. It must be loaded with magic, too, right?”</p><p>He nods again. He hadn’t been able to take it off last night, what with sharing a tent with Seokmin and being so close to other campers—he’s weary from the weight of it.</p><p>“Do you want to take it off?”</p><p>Junhui looks up at him, and then around them. There’s no one else here. He can’t even hear the bustle of the campsite. “Take it off?”</p><p>“So I can prove to you,” Seokmin says through a smile. “You don’t have to wear it with me.”</p><p>He holds the pendant in his palm. It’s warm, and weighty, and he’d like nothing more than to take it off for, but he’s too afraid that everything might come apart if he does.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Seokmin says, soft. “I promise.”</p><p>He decides in that moment that he would give Seokmin anything, and so he loops his hands around to the back of his neck, fiddling with the latch of the necklace. He feels the weight leaves his shoulders immediately, and Seokmin takes the pendant from him gently, holding it in his palm.</p><p>“Wow, it is heavy.”</p><p>He points to the bracelet. “You need to take that off too.”</p><p>Seokmin looks down at his wrist, then laughs. “You gave me a protective charm?”</p><p>He can feel his cheeks warm up. “It’s only a light one. I was unsure.”</p><p>“I guess I really am bad at hiding my feelings,” he says, holding his wrist out to Junhui, who obediently takes the latch and unhooks it. He places it into Seokmin’s hand with the pendant, and then Seokmin places them both carefully on the grass.</p><p>Finally, he brings himself to meet Seokmin’s eyes again. He’s just the same as he was before, his smile a comforting constant.</p><p>“I feel the same,” Seokmin says. “Still like you.”</p><p>Junhui laughs, a relieved rush of a thing. “Really?”</p><p>“Really,” Seokmin says. “How do you feel about that?”</p><p>“I feel like I want to kiss you,” he says, with complete honesty.</p><p>Surprise runs over his face for a second before he giggles. “That sounds like a good feeling to me!”</p><p>“I think so too,” he says, before leaning in, cupping Seokmin’s cheek with his palm, and kissing him on the mouth.</p><p>Seokmin is still smiling into the kiss, and it makes him smile too, chasing his lips and running a thumb along his cheekbone. Seokmin works with him, and after the initial unsure pecks, they slot together so well it makes his heart ache.</p><p>He pulls away in surprise when he feels something brush against his face and palm, and comes back to see tiny red petals falling from Seokmin’s cheeks and hands, scattering over their laps and into the grass around them. Where they land, new flowers are springing up in the grass; Seokmin laughs as they look around at the array of multicoloured flowers circling them.</p><p>“Sorry about that,” he says, with happy embarrassment. The odd pink petal falls with the red, and he futilely tries to wipe them away. “I’m trying to learn to control that better.”</p><p>“I don’t mind,” he replies. “It’s cute. You’re beautiful.”</p><p>The petals cascade faster, and he ducks his head. “And you’re amazing. I really think that.”</p><p>“Are we really doing this?”</p><p>“Doing what?”</p><p>“Are we… well. Do you want to date?”</p><p>“For the rest of camp, or for real?”</p><p>Junhui takes his hands in his, fingers running through the soft petals. “For real. I really want to try this.”</p><p>Seokmin beams, and brings him back in for a quick kiss. “I’d like that too.”</p><p>“I’ve been wanting to study in Korea sometime anyway…” he says, and goes to kiss his cheek, coming away with a few petals clinging to his lips. “We could work something out.”</p><p>Seokmin wraps his arms around Junhui’s shoulders and pulls him in close, letting out a delighted laugh. Junhui holds him back just as close, and the two of them fall back into the soft quilt of flowers, basking in their beauty.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>When they come back to camp with a flower tucked behind Junhui’s ear and conspicuously little firewood between them, Minghao eyes them both up.</p><p>“You smell less like trash than usual.”</p><p>Seungcheol turns his head. “Oh, yeah. You smell like flowers now. Where have you been?”</p><p>He throws his wood into the fire and turns to look at Seokmin, who looks back at him and laughs, a little embarrassed. Now able to receive such looks without suffocating under weight of his conscience, Junhui laughs with him, feeling lighter than he has in a long time.</p><p>“You’re acting very suspicious,” Seungkwan says, from where he’s slowly turning a fish over the fire. “Have you got something to tell us?”</p><p>“Seungkwan,” Junhui says, walking back to Seokmin’s side. “Have you ever seen the red petals before?”</p><p>“Red petals?”</p><p>He takes Seokmin’s hand, and kisses his cheek, and he instantly bursts into a cascade of red petals. It makes him laugh abashedly, turning to hide his face in Junhui’s shoulder.</p><p>“You’re kidding me!” Seungkwan says, standing up. “Red petals!”</p><p>He catches Minghao’s eye from where he’s sat on the other side of the fire. For the first time since they’d arrived, Minghao’s genuine smile is for him.</p><p>Junhui tugs Seokmin over to sit by the fire, but the warmth he feels comes from somewhere deeper within.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if anyone wants to try and guess some of the things cotton asked me to include in this fic, i'd love to see your guesses haha</p><p>it was loads of fun to write this. i started it before the pandemic hit my country, but to pick it up in lockdown, to try and immerse myself in the natural beauty of norway, was such a nice thing to have. i hope this gave you a little escapism right now</p><p>if you liked this, pls leave a kudos/comment so that i know! you can also find me on <a href="https://twitter.com/hope_boos">twitter</a> or <a href="https://curiouscat.me/hobiyaah">curious cat</a></p><p>you can rt this fic <a href="https://twitter.com/hope_boos/status/1246587500094767106?s=19">here!</a><br/>my beta is <a href="https://twitter.com/koyahyah">here</a><br/>and if you're interested in fandom trumps hate, the tumblr is <a href="https://fandomtrumpshate.tumblr.com/">here,</a> and the charity i wrote this for in the auction can be donated to <a href="https://www.cleanwaterfund.org/">here</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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